A team that complements each other perfectly: The Edge and Bono from U2
Photo: Getty Images, Mike Coppola. All rights reserved.
When they formed their band in the mid-1970s, the members made an unusual decision: the income from all royalties should be distributed in four equal parts.
But as important as Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. may be to the U2 sound, Bono and The Edge were the songwriters who first gave the band their face from day one.
Bono is responsible for the grand vision and anthemic hooks, while The Edge stands for experimentation and acoustic architecture.
In tandem, the two developed a spectrum of content that ranges from youthful outcry (“Out Of Control”) to political appeal (“Sunday Bloody Sunday”), from stadium-suitable sing-along (“Where The Streets Have No Name”) to funky dance floor sweepers like “Mysterious Ways” and “Discotheque” – or highly personal songs like “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)” from “Songs Of Innocence”.
As a charismatic frontman, Bono may be in the limelight, but he’s the first to appreciate the importance of his songwriting partner. “Smart people know what he means to the band,” Bono told ROLLING STONE in 2005, “and he doesn’t care about the rest of the world. I just tear my hair out and say, ‘How can it be that the whole world doesn’t already know this?’”